Enterprise 2.0 News

Google opened a new API for Google Docs that will allow developers to automate many of the tasks that users typically do manually in the company’s online office suite. The REST API was designed to help developers build workflow automation services for their users, build content management services and create documents in bulk. Using the API, developers can also set up processes that manipulate documents after the fact to update them, and the API also features the ability to insert, delete, move, merge and format text, insert inline images and work with lists, among other things.

Zoho is launching a major update to its core office suite products: Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show and Notebooks. These tools are getting an infusion of Zoho’s Zia AI assistant. With this, you can now ask questions about data in your spreadsheets, for example, and Zia will create charts and even pivot tables for you. Similarly, Zoho is using Zia in its document editor and presentation tools to provide better grammar and spellchecking tools (and it’ll now offer a readability score and tips for improving your text). In Zoho Notebook, the note-taking application that is also the company’s newest app, Zia can help users create different formats for their note cards based on the content (text, photo, audio, checklist, sketch, etc.).

Online design software provider InVision has acquired of Australia-based Trunk, that is focused wholly on file versioning for designers. In the world of engineering, GitHub has provided a way for developers to keep versions organized — developers can track changes, create a separate branch to experiment, and collaborate more easily with other developers by merging branches. But the same courtesy hasn’t properly been extended to designers, who usually spend plenty of time scrolling through long email chains searching for the latest version of the attachment. The Trunk team will be focusing their energy on Studio, InVision’s design tool, which launched about a year ago. The launch of Studio was the first time that InVision truly showed its hand, revealing efforts to go well beyond a simple collaboration tool and become the Salesforce of the design world.

LinkedIn is rolling out a streaming service called LinkedIn Live to select U.S. users. The social networking website built for business professionals tells us that they’re putting a focus on interactive and timely live video streams on LinkedIn Live. The company provided examples such AMA (Ask Me Anything) events or mentors giving their students advice. LinkedIn is clearly looking to shape the content streamed on the service, at least at first, by using it to support users looking to broadcast conferences, company announcements, earnings calls, and other similar events.